A waistcoat made of yellow feathers ...

I'm in The Rex, waiting for the red curtains to part - 

It's an early evening show, a silver screening - 

On Sundays, there are sub titles for the hard of hearing - 

I gulp down my bumper of Shiraz - 

In two months time, the thought comes to me me, I'll be one of Philip Larkin's old fools - 

I'll wear a flat cap and a waxed jacket - 

But underneath it I'll wear a waistcoat made of yellow feathers - 

17.53

Tuesday 31 January 2017

The Rex

Wareham 

In a ring around a blackbird's eye, find me ...

We sat in the kitchen, talking until midnight - 

Ed poured out the Rioja - 

Poets had danced here, their hard won words like jewels in their pockets -  

Maggie showed me a poem which made my eyes prick with tears - 

It made me think of my parents - 

They were two of many, those people made of smoke - 

Each one thinning as I watched, now hardly visible - 

23.45

Friday 30 January 2017

Southsea

Hampshire 

A dizzying glass ...

I'll have a taster of the Porter Richard said - 

We'd walked from The Bodrum through the noisy streets - 

Young beggars sat in shop doorways - 

Bouncers stood before the doors of the Wine Vaults - 

We'd heard the sound of lawless guitars - 

Richard handed me the dizzying glass - 

We came in here for one Ed said -

We've stayed for three or four - 

20.00

Saturday 28 January 2016

The Hole in The Wall

Great Southsea Street

Southsea

Hampshire 

Remembering power points ...

I shut the lap top with a sigh -

I'd spent the afternoon drafting subtle e-mails for the comrades - 

I remembered all the power points I'd sat through as an apparatchik - 

I'd perfected a polished gaze -

I'd sit there, leaning forward, my conference pack resting on my lap - 

From time to time I'd nod, underline a silky phrase in an Executive Summary - 

I'd smile whilst murmuring hello to a dark suited colleague - 

A consultant would offer me his oily hand -

All of the time, I'd be thinking of wild shores, baroque cathedrals, louche eateries, boozy evenings - 

Ah I'd say to a facilitator - all of the trajectories show the right direction of travel - 

16.00

Friday 27 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

At the Wool Texaco ...

I filled up with unleaded at the Wool Texaco - 

A bitter wind chilled my face and hands - 

There were no other cars on the forecourt - 

I remembered early mornings, scraping ice from windscreens - 

I'd drive to work, honing metaphors for a meeting - 

I'd listen to the Today Programme - 

My journey would take me past familiar landmarks - McDonalds - The Civic Centre - The King's Shilling -

I'd call in at a garage on the bypass for an Independent - 

Keith would take my small coins with a cheery smile - 

He'd see my pale apparatchik's face through the window - 

How are you my friend he'd ask - 

9.12

Thursday 26 January 2017

Wool

Dorset 

Sitting in the Allure ...

I turned the ignition key like a sorcerer's apprentice - 

The pristine beast woke up at once - 

The steering wheel quivered beneath my fingers - 

The glowing dials promised speed -

Motorways would be my kingdom -  

My headlamp beams would touch the stars - 

16.00

Wednesday 25 January 2017

The Old School House 

East Stoke

Dorset 

Silence fell from the air ...

Driving in the mist, familiar roads became gateways to a numinous world - 

White leafless trees joined heaven and earth -

Fields were lost to vagueness and mystery - 

Silence fell from the air upon the town - 

The gentle people entertained angels unaware -

12.30

Tuesday 24 February 2017

Wareham

Dorset 

The weight of heaven ...

Anne made two walnut cakes this morning - 

Your mum had the recipe in her head she said - 

Anne's cakes were my madeleines - 

Each rich mouthful prompted a memory of childhood - 

I saw again the Ferguson in the lounge, the Readers Digest Atlas, opened to the map of Africa - 

I heard My Fair Lady on the radiogram - 

I smelled the scent of the world upon my dad's greatcoat - 

I felt the weight of heaven above the sky -

16.30

Monday 23 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

Reading The New Statesman ...

Every Sunday, I read The New Statesman -

I sip my coffee like a lynx eyed Spad -

I relish a fiery polemic from Laurie Penny -

I picture Nicholas Lezard meeting Razors in the hovel -

I wonder if, like Peter Wilby in Loughton, I live quietly and unfashionably in East Stoke - 

I work my way from the Editorial to Telling Tales - 

I remember how my dad used to read The New Statesman in the 1970s - 

He was then a Union official in the dockyard - 

Bring a spare suit he warned the minister - you might get egged -

10.30

Sunday 22 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Crosswords ...

Anne and Penelope have almost finished their crossword - 

Formula Anne calls out - 

Officer Penny counters - 

They unpick anagrams with the spooky deftness of locksmiths - 

I watch them as a nebbish would a conjuror - 

How do they do it, I wonder - 

Snaring words like rabbits - 

17.14

Saturday 21 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

The Very Thought of You ...

I'm reading Old Moore's Almanack for 1940 - 

Anne's drinking tea from a bone china cup - 

Chancellor Hitler's horoscope, I read, is definitely unfortunate - 

Above my head there's a framed photograph of a young sailor - 

A bakelite radio is placed beside the Dorset Apple Cake -

Al Bowlly's singing The Very Thought of You -

12.30

Friday 20 January 2017

Reloved

Dortchester 

The white pebble ...

We wore gloves against the cold - 

Leafless trees had shining branches - 

Gulls flew over the smooth bare hill - 

Two fishermen dragged a dinghy up the narrow beach - 

It was high tide - 

An icy stream ran over the white stones into the cove - 

I held the pebble Sophie gave me - 

I'd place it above the fireplace, warm it with a fragrant blaze - 

I'd hold the moment in my heart, as now I held the pebble in my hand - 

10.45

Thursday 19 January 2017

Lulworth Cove

Dorset 

The Noise of Time ...

I'm reading Julian Barnes' The Noise of Time - 

I know that I, too, would wait for the lift doors to open, that my name would be on a policeman's list - 

Men smoking Belomory cigarettes would enter the hallway - 

The fearful city would be silent - 

The moon would stop moving across the sky - 

I'd remember a basement bar with a fringed light shade - 

I'd murmur the words of a vodka toast - 

One to hear

One to remember 

And one to drink - 

15.32

Wednesday 18 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

The new car ...

The car showroom was like the pristine foyer of a boutique hotel - 

The new models were burnished to perfection - 

Young men in whispering suits tiptoed past a Peugeot 208 Allure - 

We went for a test drive in a nimbus grey beast - 

For a moment I thought I was as cool as Lemmy Caution - 

All I needed was a trench coat and an icy stare - 

15.39

Tuesday 17 2017

Howards Peugeot 

Dortchester 

Dorset 

A weightless coat ...

Listening to Sophie, I counted all my years - 

She wore a weightless coat of memory - 

The future filled the room like music - 

There were new words upon my tongue - 

There were new heartbeats to echo mine - 

18.39

Monday 16 January 2016

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

The five dancers ...

Spring cleaning this morning, Anne uncovered secret kingdoms of spiders, strange cities woven out of cobwebs - 

She asked me to dust a curio we'd bought in Glastonbury - 

I remembered the dreadlocked sages, Wearyall Hill, the Chalice Well - 

We'd drunk coffee in New Age cafes under dream catchers - 

I read books about Atlantis - 

I'd dreamed of women dancing round apple trees - 

The sky above the orchards brimmed with stars - 

12.30

Sunday 15 January 2017

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

 

Audrey smiled her Holly Golightly smile ...

Paul's was full today -

I had to wait for my turn to sit in the chair - 

Above my head there was a large framed photograph of Sean Connery - 

Two small boys squirmed one after the other in the chair - 

They won't behave in school their dad said - 

They won't get their football - 

A copy of The Daily Express lay unread upon a pile of sad magazines - 

Two young men wearing hi vis jackets sat down under the framed photograph of Audrey Hepburn - 

Razor sharp scissors whispered above tender ears - 

I admired Sean's exquisite suit -

Audrey smiled her Holly Golightly smile - 

13.30

Saturday 14 January 2017

Paul's 

Wareham 

Purbeck 

Dorset 

Bad dreams like colourless birds ...

Reading Man Size in Marble, I remembered waking, terrified, in a low ceilinged room - 

We were spending the night in Allerford, in a house near the river - 

We'd eaten a brigand's dinner, the table set before an ancient fireplace - 

A rich carpet covered the stone floor - 

Oak furniture reflected the firelight - 

Boots were heaped up in the hall -  

The thick walls were roughly plastered -

We climbed the narrow stairs to lie upon the high bed - 

There, under the mossy thatch, bad dreams came to me like colourless birds - 

14.30

Friday 13 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

A famished pasha ...

I carefully slid the dollop of Marmite into my cup - 

I then added boiling water, so as to make a Marmite bouillon - 

This, I thought, would be the ideal reviver after norovirus - 

Perhaps, later, I might eat a small bowl of pasta - 

I'd not eaten for four days - 

I'd feast like a famished pasha - 

I'd think of the years when my parents were John and Alice - 

The days to come were not to be thought of - 

Their heads grazed the sky - 

Their love filled the world - 

15.00

Thursday 12 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

The haven of the quiet bedroom ...

Anne's stayed all day in the haven of the quiet bedroom - 

Last night, she, too, was sick - 

The bedroom window frames the gentle sky - 

Downstairs, I cook dinner for my mum and dad - 

I've lived with bombs falling says my dad -

My mum's sleeping on the settee, murmuring something in her dreams - 

Perhaps once more she's dancing with the handsome Captain - 

The beloved teacher is still holding her hand - 

16.00

Tuesday 10 January 2017

Staunton Road

Havant

Hampshire 

Norovirus ...

There was something going round the Day Centre Jane had said - 

I held up the bowl for my mum - 

Don't bully me she said - 

She was sick, repeatedly, all afternoon and evening - 

Anne washed up the bowls, comforted her, made sure she wasn't sick all over the settee - 

There's nothing wrong with Pegs my dad said - 

She hasn't been sick - I've lived with with her for sixty years - I know my wife -

22.30

Sunday 8 January 2017

Staunton Road

Havant 

Hampshire 

Tarnished jewels ...

We searched Wilkos for soda crystals - 

The kitchen sink was blocked -

It wasn't blocked this morning my dad had said - 

You must have blocked it - 

We'd got up at five to be there before breakfast - 

We'd driven through fog on the M27 - 

The tail lights of the cars in front were like tarnished jewels - 

It was you or Anne my dad said - you blocked it -

14.30

Sunday 8 January 2017

Wilkos

Havant

A Horse's Neck after Maupassant ...

After reading Monsieur Parent I needed a Horse's Neck - 

I put down the foxed green Penguin Classic - 

I'd bought it in The Crooked Book - 

Nick Cave was singing a murder ballad - 

Bravos had slouched past the cafe - 

I poured out the brandy - 

I'd need four measures I thought - 

23.30

Wednesday 4 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Walking the Rodwell Trail ...

We followed the route of the old railway, above the Victorian streets -

Abandoned stations were left with just their names - 

We heard a chaffinch calling amongst leafless trees - 

Brick lined tunnels were like sad temples - 

Lean cyclists raced past us - 

Gentle dog walkers dawdled homewards - 

Breakwaters enclosed the wide harbour - 

The waves remembered grey ships filled with young men - 

Gulls flew above the dark Island - 

I shared a scone with Penelope, looking out at the high beach - 

There was a quotation from John Fowles written above the window -  

It is above all an elemental place, made of sea, shingle and sky - 

12.30

Friday 6 January 2017

Weymouth

Portland 

Dorset 

Writing my young name ...

It was time this morning for A Fisherman's Friend -

The red wounded beast was cocooned in ice - 

I could have been in Volgodonsk, driving a Zhiguli for the Mafiya -  

The lawns were white with frost - 

The apple tree cast a frozen shadow - 

The pale blue sky was cloudless -  a white jet flew towards the sun - 

I sucked the potent lozenge - 

I remembered winters when the snow had fallen - 

I'd sat in the small lounge, my face pressed up against the window, watching silence fall upon the world - 

I'd breathed upon the glass, and written my young name there - 

09.00

Thursday 5 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset